Petals of an Anemone
by Cherished Tenshi
Summary: For Raberba girl's 'Other Kinds of Love' Challenge. Not everything has to be romantic. Current chapter: Axel/Aqua with Aqua/Kairi. "Aqua thought that phoning her obsessive, bubbly, rambling, and boy-phobic sister would make her feel better. Obviously, the world doesn't work like that."
1. Jeans - Hume Hats

**Title: **Hume Hats

**Pairing: **Axel/Aqua

**Summary: **It was days like this that made Aqua wonder about how their conversation went from Axel's size six jeans to wax-tasting sweets with ridiculous names. (Rough draft)

**Theme: **Jeans (15)

* * *

**Petals of an Anemone**

**.:001:.**

* * *

"Aqua?"

I look up from my physics notes, sighing as I spot Axel's head – or at least, the part that isn't covered by his _ridiculous _hairstyle, which admittedly wasn't that much – peeking out from the corner of the bathroom door. I could also see that he was bare-chested, and that every single one of his ribs was poking out of his skin. The sight of the sharp-edges looking ready to launch out of his waist any second nearly made me sick, but I pushed down the feeling of nausea, pretending to not be bothered.

"_Aqua?_" he presses again, sounding concerned.

"You're too skinny," I blurt out, and then duck my head as Axel gives me an exasperated look. _Everyone _always says that to him (especially Saïx, but given that the two of them are brothers, that's to be expected), but it's true. No one, male or female, should be able to count all of their ribs. It just isn't _healthy_.

"I know, I _know._"

"Then why don't you do anything about it?" I snap back irritatedly. "If you collapse, don't expect me to help you."

"Aww, you'll have to do mouth-to-mouth on me. Couldn't really pick anyone better to kiss, right?" He winks. "Anyway," he hurriedly adds before I can reply. He must sense my discomfort. "I kinda, ah, need help."

"With what?"

"Do you have a spare belt?"

…_What? _Why would he need a belt? And why would he ask such a stupid question? _He's _the one with the belt fetish... it's almost as bad as Leon's. "Um, why?"

"These jeans-" he pulls at the dark red fabric on his leg, frowning. "-Keep falling down."

He'd better not have gotten a large size _again_... "What size is it?" I ask tiredly.

"Small."

"_Number?_"

"Six."

Okay, I was an _eight_, and even then, I sometimes struggled to fit into them, especially after Terra had convinced me to eat ten-too-many pies. Axel was _too small for a six._

"Axel."

"Yeah?"

I rip open the top drawer of the drawers near my bed and shuffle through them until I find my secret stash of chocolate bars and sweeties. It was a guilty pleasure of mine; my family had been strict with my sugar intake (worried about me getting diabetes and all of that), and now that I was away on a field trip with my university... I felt that I had a right to eat whatever the hell I wanted.

Besides, there was only so much pomegranates that any girl could take, and I had a soft spot for Hume Hats.

The Chocobo Feathers are outdated by about a month, but I throw the packet at Axel. He stumbles to catch it, and his trousers fall down, revealing his black boxers.

Nice _choice._Better than the moogle ones I had been somewhat-expecting.

And no, I hadn't been thinking about his boxers.

Shut up.

"Good catch!" I call out sarcastically. I think he's too busy gaping at me to reply properly, his words being nothing but gibberish.

"What... why..?"

Next, I find the stash of Munny Orbs at the bottom of the drawer, rattling about loudly. I yank them out and fling them to the redhead behind me.

"Aqua what are you-" He suddenly sniggers. "Nice butt."

I throw a Thwomp Smacker at his face.

After I manage to overflow his arms with all of the unhealthy sweets that I can find, I slam the drawer shut and look at him.

"What-" The packet of melted Gleamwood Snow slumps to the ground. He picks it up before continuing. "-Are you, and what have you done with Aqua?"

"Call Saïx and tell him that you're not going out today."

He stares at me as if I've announced that I plan to dress him up as the Black Slammurai for Christmas. We did that before. It was amusing. I was stuck in the Mr. Mew Suit, and we spent most of the evening drunk. "Aqua, have you finally gone _insane?_"

I walk up to him and poke his ribs through the many sweets. He glares at me, but I can see him blushing a tiny bit. "I was always insane, dummy. And you need to get fat."

"So you plan on stuffing me with all of your _outdated _sweets?"

Oops, he noticed. Ah well. "Something like that, yeah."

He sits down on his bed, which is directly opposite from mine, and empties the sweets from his arms onto it. They cover half of the bed. I sit down beside him and lean behind him to nab a Hume Hat from the already-open packet. Hopefully they haven't gone off – they've been open for about a week.

"Aqua..." Axel stares at me intensely, his thin eyebrows scrunched together, and after a few seconds I have to look away, because I've never known him to be this serious before. I'm not used to it. It's a bit scary, really; he's always joking about and shoving off my protests, so for him to not object... maybe his lack of weight's a bigger issue for him than I first thought. "Why do you care?"

I stuff the sour Hume Hat into his mouth, because he _needs _to stop being so serious, it's frightening. "These are my favourite, especially the Balthier ones."

He stares at me again. "People _name _these things?"

I pour out the rest of the pocket into my hands, grinning. I always love showing off my knowledge of... _sweets _to people. Even if everyone else thought that it was weird that I geeked out over sweets, I thought it was cool. I mean, how many people did you know who knew the history of Val'Cie Wings? _None!_ "Well, you see this blond one?" He nods. "That's Vaan, and then the slightly paler one is Ashe."

He peers closer. "They look the _exact same._" He then nabbed the Ashe one and threw it into his mouth.

That's when I remember that they're rock solid, like rock canes.

"_Don't bite!_"

Too late. "-Ah _shi_-"

-I clamp a hand over his mouth before he can finish. "These things can, and _will_, break your teeth. The Penelo one's the hardest. I lost two teeth because of her."

He's too busy moaning in pain to really object, so I continue on, removing my hand and picking up a yellow orb so pale it's almost white. The noticeable black scar across the top wrecks it.

"And then the _palest _one is Basch."

He holds up a black one with two tiny white dots at the top, still wincing as he clutches his jaw. Yet, somehow, he continues to suck on the one in his mouth. I honestly don't know how he does it. "This?"

"That's Fran. She's the sourest one. She tastes like lemons."

Axel spits out the Ashe one that he'd been eating. It rolls along the wooden boards before vanishing into the shadows underneath my bed. _Great._

"_Lemons?_"

"If you think that's bad, just _wait _until you try Vaan. He's like... pomegranates."

"_Pomegranates!?"_

"Hush." I stuff a Balthier one into his mouth.

Axel proceeds to turn green before running off to the toilet next door. He slams the door shut, and I can hear him throw up into the toilet.

Oh yeah.

Most people didn't like wax-flavoured sweets.

My bad.

"_Aqua!_" Once he manages to finish puking his guts out, which essentially undoes all of my hard work, he pokes his head out, which is still quite green. He's finally managed to pull on a nattered-looking orange shirt, and I make a note to take him clothes-shopping if we don't have any essays to hand in later. "What in flaming pants was _that!?_"

"Balthier's picky."

"_Balthier_," he says slowly, "is a sweet."

"I never said that he was a person."

He sits down next to me, making the bed creak noticeably. Huh. Maybe he's not as skinny as I thought he was. Still needs to eat. "You're making him sound as if he's one."

"Don't put words into my mouth!" I interrupt before he can say anything else.

He smirks. "Want me to put my lips there instead?"

I throw another Thwomp Smacker at him and smirk as he hits the ground, clutching his nose in pain. "Aww, I thought you'd prefer being top, Axel!"

"_Aqua!_" he nearly squeaks out, mortified. "W-what... you know what that _means_?"

"Of course I do!" I cross my arms protectively. What kind of person does he take me for? "I'm not innocent and untainted, you know!"

_Somehow_, I don't even know how, he waggles his short eyebrows with a wide smirk. "I could make you see the _light_~"

I dump the pocket of melted (and open!) Gleamwood Snows over his head.

His unmanly squeak makes my week.

* * *

**A/N: **(In order of appearance) Hume Hats, Chocobo Feathers, Munny Orbs, Thwomp Smackers and Gleamwood Snows are all sweets in this universe. As for the names, well... _Final Fantasy_ fans should know. Hats off to you if you can catch all of the references.

This little piece ended up a _lot _more differently then most of my stories. Most of them start off happy before diving off into _anggssttt_, while this one went from _anggssttt _straight to humour. Kind of. Not really. This one was difficult, since Akua is my OTP, so you can imagine how it was. There's flirting between them, but they don't actually mean anything by it; you know the way that close friends tend to hit on each other, jokingly? Yeah, something like that.

So! This is for Raberba girl's _Other Kinds of Love Challenge _over on DeviantArt. Basically, the challenge is to write a series of _platonic _interactions between characters, with very little or no romance involved. The message is that everything isn't romance.

Which I have to agree with whole-heartedly. Heh. Also, because I am stupid, I'm taking on all one hundred themes.

Auldrant help me.

**Completed: **1/100.


	2. Sorry - WINNER

**Title: **WINNER

**Summary: **Sometimes, he wonders if there's even a reason left for him to fight. Post-3D, KHIII speculation.

**Pairing: **Axel/Aqua (well technically _Lea_/Aqua but everyone calls Lea Axel in 3D SO IT'S OKAY)

**Theme: **Sorry (84)

**Warnings: **Spoilers for _Dream Drop Distance_.

* * *

Aqua – sorry, _Master _Aqua – is the worst teacher ever, and that is a fact.

"You're holding your Keyblade wrong, Axel."

"No I am _not!_" Was there even a wrong way to hold it? "And it's _Lea_!"

Aqua sighed at me heavily. Her Keyblade – Stormfall – vanished in a flash of light as she made her way over to me. Why? What had I done wrong _now? _Hell, if little dorky _Roxas _could use a Keyblade, and he was barely tall enough to reach my chest, then surely I would do better?

"Hold out your hand."

Instead, I stuck out my tongue. Childish, I know, but I couldn't help myself. I was just so sick and tired of this. Of everything. But mainly the Keyblade.

Learning how to wield the Keyblade was way way _wayyyy _harder than what everyone else made it out to be, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit jealous of Sora, especially with how quickly he (apparently) mastered it. Explained why Roxas was so frickin' good, but _still! _I'd been practising for the past three months, and I'd only _just _learnt all of the basic spells, along with the first three levels of Fire. Aqua had said that she wanted me to learn the first two levels of each spell, along with Reflect, Curaga, and Triple Firaga, as well as the weird barrier thing her and Riku used as a shield. Did she consider me to be some kind of magic whiz kid?

Well, I wasn't.

I could tell that Aqua barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She yanked my aching hand out without warning, apparently ready to give me a tongue lashing for holding it wrong _again_, but instead she frowned.

"Your hand's bleeding?" she said, sounding confused.

I glanced down. Oh, yeah. That'd be from why Kairi 'accidentally' hit me yesterday, while we were training together. I think that she still wanted to get vengeance on me for the whole kidnapping thing. Couldn't blame her, really. The friction of the handle must have been rubbing against the open cuts. "Eh, that was Kairi. Don't worry."

I looked back up to Aqua, only to glance back down again once I felt something soft and prickling. The green light of a Cure spell faded away from my hand, stitching up the several cuts and washing all of the blood off magically (and it also fixed clothing, as I learnt the other day after a stray Poison spell; seriously though, how was I meant to know that Poison ate through cloth?). "...You didn't have to do that."

"Well," Aqua began, still looking at me in that condescending way that she always did (although I don't think she ever meant to; it was just something that she did naturally), "I wanted to. If the blood had gotten worse, then the handle would have been slippery, and you wouldn't be able to hold it."

"Not that I could in the first place," I grumbled to myself.

"_Lea._" Aqua had her hands on her hips. Oh _Darkness. _"I said that you didn't hold it _correctly. _You're doing better than Terra did, at first."

I didn't miss the saddened look at Terra's name, but I didn't mention it. She respected my space whenever I talked about Roxas or Xion, after all. It was like some kind of mutual thing we had between us; we could talk about our lost friends, but _never _ask the other about them. Too painful.

Damn, having a heart _really _sucked; just _thinking _of those two made my heart sink. Thinking of Isa just ripped it into a thousand broken shards, which was... I couldn't even _describe _it, it was that awful.

"Well, yeah, but you've been training for your _whole _life."

"Not until I was five," Aqua said firmly. "And I wasn't allowed a proper Keyblade until I was twelve; Master Eraqus made us train with wooden Keyblades."

Yeah, because _that _was supposed to make me feel _so much better._

"I'm kinda _twenty-six._"

"Better late than never." Aqua gave me some strange look – pity? Damn it, I didn't _need _any pity! - before Stormfall appeared in a flourish of rose petals and light. "Now, let's get back to training."

_Whaaaatttttt. _We'd been training for _three hours straight. _Even the Organization let us have breaks every hour! Sheesh! "Aqua, can't we take a _break?_" I whined.

"No," came the cross reply. "Now, perform a Blizzard spell."

"_Why _would I ever need a Blizzard spell?"

"_Why_ do you use Fire spells?"

...Oh. She had me there.

I grumbled some curses underneath my breath, but whipped out my Keyblade all-the-same, pointing it at some poor rock on the beach. How did Aqua say to do it again..?

Before I could make sense of it, a huge chunk of ice shot out from my Keyblade (which I was still too lazy to name) and shattered upon hitting the rock. I glanced over to Aqua with a nervous chuckle. Was it _meant_ to shatter?

Actually, she looked impressed. Kind of. Maybe. I don't know. It was gone, at any rate. "...That was a Blizzaga spell. I said _Blizzard._"

"But c'mon! The stronger the better, right?"

"Blizzaga takes longer to reload than Blizzard. Sometimes, multiple Blizzard spells are better than a single Blizzaga spell _and _Blizzaga takes up more room in the command deck."

Because I had totally asked for that lecture.

Aqua threw an ether over herself. Suddenly, she pointed her Keyblade at me and shouted, "Thundaga!"

I barely leapt out of the way as a huge bolt of lightning crashed down on the sand, reducing it to a nice fuzzy spot of black. "Good reaction." _Now _she sounded impressed. For what? Trying to sneak up on me?

"The hell?"

Another Thundaga spell. Oh c- "_Stop _it!" I totally _did not _squeak as the thunder flashed a metre away from me.

Much to my surprise, she let out a loud laugh, the sound ringing through the empty islands. "Not until you get better! The enemy will show no pity!"

Oh, _two _could play at that game. "_Firaga!"_

She cartwheeled out of the way of the roaring fire (how the heck did she _cartwheel_?) before leaping into the air. Fire surrounded her, crackling as she spun towards me. She was using a Fire Surge!?

OH THAT WAS SO NOT FAIR SHE HADN'T TAUGHT ME HOW TO DODGE THAT.

I scrambled out of the way from my position on the sand. She landed just before me, grinning. The flames circling around her whispered away into the sea air.

"You kind of need to _stand up._"

I stood up, ignoring the hand that she offered to help.

Aqua looked a bit insulted, but went on, "I need to teach you how to dodge properly. How athletic are you?"

"Pretty?" I said, uncertain of where this was going. I ran for the track team _wayyyy _back at school (but that was ages ago), and as for the Organization... well.

"You shouldn't roll," she said. "You'll fall over." I glared at her as she _sniggered_, actually _sniggered _at me. Or giggled. But I preferred to call it a snigger, thank you very much.

"So... what else is there?"

"Well, Terra slided, but that was because he had two left feet." She had a fond smile on her face. "Couldn't even roll like Ven did. _Anyway_. Should we try cartwheels?"

_Oh no. _"That's for _girls._"

"Because Xehanort is going to take time to notice that you're a bit feminine," she said lightly. "Look... you already have hips to make a girl jealous."

"_Aqua!_"

"And legs."

"_Stop it!"_

Her face fell. "You can't hold your Keyblade correctly, so the Keyblade would slip out of your hands. Maybe I should just make you roll after all..." She gave me a quick one-over, sighing heavily. "No, you're too tall. It would take too long for you to recover."

"And then Xehanort would be able to attack."

She nodded grimly. "_Exactly._"

"He'd probably make me his final vessel or something."

I knew immediately that I'd said the wrong thing. Aqua suddenly paled, before she grabbed my hand firmly, eyes blazing as she glared up at me.

"Don't you _ever_," she hissed. "Say that _again. None _of us are becoming his vessel, you hear me? Not Sora, not me, and _especially _not you."

She was pretty passionate about that. But why 'especially' not me? "Well, why not? I _was _in the Organization, and everyone else is part of his vessels."

"You can use that _exact _same logic for Ienzo and the others. _Stop it_."

I was more surprised that she _knew _Ienzo and Dilan and all, but I'd save that for another time. And, yet again, she had me. Aqua tended to do that a lot. Even more than Isa had.

_Isa._

I looked away, not wanting to look at Aqua. Suddenly, she looked far too similar to him; same teasing grin, same colour of hair, same... _everything. _And I was never going to get the real Isa back, was I? He was... he was with _Xehanort _now.

I would make him pay. Make him pay for taking away everyone I'd ever loved. At least the others had each other; Sora and Riku and Kairi all had each other, and Aqua probably had Master Yen Sid and Mickey. What about me? Who did _I _have? For all of my efforts to try and save the people I cared – no, _care –_ about... I was left with no one. Roxas _was _Sora. Xion was gone. Isa... I'd never get him back again. He'd die first, and it was _all because of Xehanort_. Why was I even fighting? Just... just what _was_ the point? I didn't see it. Sure, we'd save the worlds, but what about _me? _What would _I _get?

Nothing, that's what.

I knew that it was selfish, but I couldn't care less.

Aqua's concerned voice drifted into my thoughts, cutting them off. "-You okay?"

I looked up, forcing a smile. It felt fake on my own lips. "Yeah. Just thinking."

She didn't look convinced; her frown went deeper. She looked like a child, and that's when I remembered; she wasn't some old woman who'd lived her own life. Not really. She was nineteen, twenty? A lot younger than me, at least, and she'd spent _ten years _in the realm of darkness, and she'd come back alive, beaming light everywhere she looked.

Yeah, maybe I was jealous. She'd been enveloped in darkness, and hey, she's fine. Me? Touched it, and lost my heart.

Something's just a bit unfair.

"Lea-" She shifted on her feet, looking unsure of what to say. She fingered something star-shaped in her pockets. "-You _do _know that you can talk to me if you want to, right?"

"Heh. Can't get enough of my big mouth, huh?"

She crossed her arms, sounding irritated. "Ugh- _stop joking around! _I'm being serious! You always look so... so..._ sad _whenever you think no one's looking."

Huh? Where the heck did that come from? "I'm _fine_."

Aqua went on as if I hadn't spoken. Rude. "And it's not like you really have anyone to talk to, either, because at least I have Master Yen Sid and Mickey. But what about you? I never really see you talk to anyone, apart from Riku occasionally."

Riku? That'd make sense. We tended to talk to each other, and he did sometimes take me for training, whenever it was Aqua's turn to teach Kairi; we were both in similar situations. Tallest, fallen in darkness, awkward third wheel to the obvious romance in front of them, brotherly figure (although Roxas had called me a mother, once. I'd smacked him for that; and _of _course, Xigbar had overheard, and processed to call me a mama bear for the next few weeks), best friend of a spiky-haired squirt... yeah, we were pretty similar. So we'd hang out and chat whenever Sora popped off to Traverse Town (the _dream _one, for whatever reason; he said he had some friends there) and Kairi was busy getting trained by Aqua. I liked him.

"So?" I spat, a bit more venomously then I'd intended. "Not everyone needs to be surrounded by people. Maybe I _prefer _being by myself."

Aqua wasn't the least bit fazed by my tone. "But maybe you don't. _Everyone _needs a shoulder to lean on whenever they're feeling weak. I understand that you're missing your friends – I miss Ven and Terra, too – but you _will _get them back."

"I _know _that."

"Do you?"

I froze.

"You don't _act _like you do. You act like you just want to mope around all day."

I didn't-! I whirled around to face him, feeling the anger course through me. How _dare _she judge me!? "I don't _mope _around all day! At least your best friend isn't one of Xehanort's vessels!"

"Terra _is _Xehanort!"

"Well, so is _Isa!_ _Isa's _Xehanort, too!" Speaking it aloud seemed to bring it crashing down on me; Isa was gone. He was _gone. _I'd always pushed it to the back of my head, telling the thoughts to come back another day, but... I couldn't run away. My hands shook – out of fury or fear, I don't know – as I continued, "At least you're gonna get your friends back! You'll get Ven back, along with Terra, but what's going to happen to Roxas!? To _Xion!? _Roxas is Ven, and Xion is Roxas! I'll lose everyone I've ever cared about!"

"You weren't trapped in darkness for twelve years!" Aqua near screamed. Her hand continued to clench the thing in her pocket tightly, as if it was a lifeline. Probably some stupid good-luck charm or something. It wasn't like they ever _did _anything.

I ignored the WINNER stick suddenly evident in my pocket as Aqua went on, "Do you even _know _how horrible it was, to wander there, with nowhere to go, no one to find, and the _whole time, _I had to fight the Heartless, not knowing if I would ever get out of that hell? You _don't_! You have-"

"-At least you still _had _your heart! It was..." There were so many words that I could have used. Hell. Horrid. Empty. "It was like you were just... just... _nothing... _nothing mattered or... or _anything._"

I didn't even know where we were going with this. All of the energy drained out of me, gone as soon as it had come. I flopped down onto the sand, staring at the waves, calling my Keyblade away in a burst of fire. The sun was starting to set, beams of twilight and orange dancing on the water surface like flickering flames. There was a sudden sickness in my stomach. I glanced down to my boots.

I was surprised when Aqua sat down beside me. Her hand awkwardly rested on my arm. "...Sorry. I..."

I waved her off. "It's fine. I kinda overreacted, didn't I?"

She smiled, hesitantly. "That goes for both of us."

The beach descended into silence. The only sound was of the seagulls crowing loudly, flapping their white wings as they raced along the blazing water. It was peaceful.

We were sitting there for a long time before Aqua's hand slipped from my arm down to my hand. She squeezed it gently.

I squeezed back, smiling.

Maybe things could be all right.

For a second, I almost believed that.

* * *

**A/N: **So.

I think it's safe to say that I'm not going to do this within the time limit.

ALSO THE BIT AT THE END IS PLATONIC.

JUST SAYING.

Also Aqua is OOC but I do imagine that she'd be a bit more icy and sarcastic and stuff after _twelve years _in the _realm of darkness_.

OH and I hate having Lea/Axel saying 'Got it memorized?' because it is _so undeniably _cheesy and stupid and the amount of people who make him say it _constantly _in fanfictions and put it in their favourite quotes section _drives me up the wall._ I don't mind him saying it in normal conditions. This is not a normal condition. This is a 'Lea-and-Aqua-are-angsting-their-pants-off' condition. So, therefore, the usage of that quote is invalid.

ALSO Lea in _BbS _says '_Get _it memorized' and I was SO ANNOYED when in 3D Lea said 'GOT it memorized?' instead. It just _annoyed me so much _and I don't even know why, it just does, gahhhh. DX

Headcanon time! After 3D, Kairi and Lea both get trained by Riku, Master Yen Sid, and Aqua (when they eventually rescue her, and in my headcanon Yen Sid sends Riku into the realm of darkness to get her about a week after 3D), occasionally swapping around since each Master is best at a different thing (like speed or magic). Sora's just goofing around and also training (since he's taking the exam alongside Kairi and Lea), but he doesn't have any one set Master, and he often goes to the dream Traverse Town to visit the TWEWY guys. And Xehanort's just waiting for the right time to strike and steal someone to use as a vessel? Hmm I don't know kind of forgot about him.

Finally; it will most likely be Axel/Aqua for the first ten prompts, and then I'll switch for another couple, but we'll see.

LONG AUTHOR'S NOTE W00T.

Also; hope that everyone is enjoying themselves and looking forward to Christmas! Goodness knows that everyone deserves to be happy at this time of year. :)

**Complete: **2/100.


	3. Glitter - Pancakes

**Title: **Pancakes

**Summary: **It's New Year's Eve. Somehow, for Aqua, that consists of going around to Axel's house and stealing some of Saïx's pancakes.

**Pairing: **Axel/Aqua (with a desert of Saïx)

**Theme: **Glitter (36)

* * *

Well.

Here was hoping that Axel was in. Mum had kicked me out of the house for the day, saying that she had some important business to attend to. Most likely a new deal with some posh guy. I didn't really have anywhere else to go, since Terra's mother was freaking _Maleficent_, _and_ she hated my guts, _and_ she would throw her grand collection of bottle caps at me to get out (those things really hurt!) and as much as I dearly loved Terra I wasn't willing to go through that again and Ven's family seemed to have a fight every five seconds, so it wouldn't be the wisest thing to head in there.

And hey, Axel was as good a choice as any.

I knocked on the door, which was, for some reason, covered in grinning Sandy Claws heads with no bodies. They probably hadn't taken down their Christmas decorations yet, but _still_. _Creepy. _Axel had told me that his dad was a huge fanatic of all of the holidays, even though he and his brother would rather shop in 104 for a day than help out with the decorations.

I knocked again. When no one answered the door, I turned the handle to find it unlocked. Huh. Someone _had _to be inside, so I pushed the creaking door open.

It _really _needed to be oiled.

Inside, the decorations were _even worse_, but it didn't look like it was for Christmas; most of the stuff was banners wishing 'Happy New Year!' and there were several pictures of... I peered closer – a bunch of ghosts running out of a house?

…Wasn't that just a _bit _weird?

There was also a small lump of red and black in the middle of the corridor, buried in piles of tinsel and Christmas lights.

"Hello?" I called out, unsure.

The small lump of red and black leapt up. "Hey, Aqua!"

..._Axel!?_

And he was covered in sparkles and tinsel and glitter and I don't know he really needed a wash.

"What-" I yelped as a long red wire crashed down on front of me. Axel chuckled nervously before rushing to pick it up again and drape it over the front of the door frame. I sighed; better try again. "What are you doing? Christmas is _over_."

"My dad celebrates the New Year," Axel said simply. Without warning, he crushed me into a tight hug, bony arms wrapping around my back with a squeeze. I simply stood there – where did _that _come from? - before I hesitantly hugged him back. He smelt of oil and sweat and smoke and-

"Yeah, I stink. Sorry. Just came back from helping Sam fix the Light Cycle." He pulled back, rubbing the back of his neck, still looking sheepish. I just smiled at him; it was a nice smell, like home. I didn't mind it. "Tron broke it again, and Quorra was out and Phoebus was busy so-"

"-It's fine." Then I remembered what he had said earlier. "But why does your dad celebrate the New Year?"

"He's part-Japanese. Apparently, they drive out the evil spirits of the house on New Year's Day or something, I dunno. New start, getting rid of evil, blah blah blah, all of that."

I laughed a bit before noticing a blob of blue hair in the kitchen, cooking something at the stove. It smelt like... _pancakes? _"Saïx!"

The man looked up, and sure enough, it was Saïx. I would recognize those eyes anywhere – they were _sooo _pretty! Reminded me of Jasmine's tiger, what with the way they were _amber _and all of that – not to mention the two massive scars between his eyes. No one would still tell me on where the heck he had gotten them. Much to my amusement, Saïx was wearing some kind of kiddy apron with several sparkling ponies on the front. "Xion forced me to wear this."

"Xion was around?" She didn't pop around too often without one of her brothers guarding her.

"With her brother, just an hour ago." At that, Saïx scowled into the pancake mixture. I half-expected it to burst into flames. "Honestly; _how _is she related to him?"

"Which one?" Axel asked lightly, swinging an arm around Saïx's shoulders and attempting to smother him in hugs. Saïx slapped his nose with the fish slice. I sat down on the chair closest to the stove, wrapping my arms around the front of it and looking at the two of them bicker.

"Vanitas." Well, I preferred him to her _other _brother; I couldn't even understand what he was saying half of the time! Naminé had told me that he just liked using mathematical terms.

I think 'like' is an understatement.

Also it greatly amused me that Vanitas was younger than Xion.

Just saying.

"Not Sho?" I questioned. Saïx turned to me, 'accidentally' smacking Axel in the face again.

"_Stop that!_"

"Unfortunately," Saïx said, completely ignoring his brother.

Axel chuckled, sitting up on the counter beside Saïx, ignoring his threats to steal his game consoles ("Sai, you wouldn't know how to _unplug_ those things."). "Whaddya mean, _unfortunately? _At least you can _understand _Van."

"Sho didn't threaten to kill Simba."

Blink, blink. "...When did he say that?"

"Today."

"_Ehhhhhh_?"

"Oh, your dog?" Oh he was _sooooooo cute!_ Almost as adorable with Roxas and his puppy eyes. Gah! THAT WAS SO SO SO SO CUTE.

"Dad's taking him out for a walk," Axel grumbled. "This whole stupid thing is _his _idea – _I_ think that ghosts is a load of garbage – and he's chickening out?"

"You would know," Saïx murmured over the loud sizzling of the pan. I nearly _died _at just how heavenly the smell coming from it was. "You don't even have to _attempt _to be a chicken."

"Damn straight!" Axel then smacked him in the shoulder. "Hey, did you just _insult _me?"

As much as I loved Axel, sometimes he was _so _dense.

I giggled, which caused Axel to suddenly turn to me, looking slightly sheepish. "Oh, Aqua! Heh, kinda forgot about you..."

"How could you?" I teased. "Blue hair?"

"Saïx has blue hair," he shot back immediately. "I swear, it's some kind of genetic freak thing; _no one _has natural blue hair."

"Aqua and I do," Saïx said dryly. He flipped the pancakes into the air, slapped Axel's wandering fingers, and caught the mixture easily. "I wonder the same about your hair daily, too."

Axel ran his fingers through his spikes (which I had tried to count, once, and I gave up after twenty and he _wouldn't stop moving_), smirking. "Wondering 'bout how _fabulous _it is?"

"Somehow," I muttered. "Your ego is larger than your hair."

The two of them stared at me for a few seconds. Um.

Yay?

I shifted awkwardly on the chair. "Um..."

Saïx suddenly smirked at me before turning back to the pancakes, while Axel was perfecting his goldfish look at me.

"Have you ever seen his hair straightened, Aqua?" Saïx asked randomly. I noticed that he was now serving up the pancakes – he had three plates down already, and I could smell the _gorgeous _smell from here. It made my stomach rumble. Oh, yeah. Missed out on breakfast because Kairi had swiped the last banana. I'd have to get back at her for that.

"No?" I said uncertainly. Where was he going with this?

Axel was now practising his hawk look at us two. "_Don'ttellherSaïxorIswearIwillmak eyourlifealivinghell__Istillhaven'tforgivenNaminéfordoingthatt omewhileIwasasleep__._"

"It went down to his waist," Saïx finished. "Took an hour to style back to its usual _charming _self." He glanced over to Axel. "And for future reference, you already _do _make my life, and I quote, 'a living hell'. If you were not my brother, then I would not have put you with you for as long as I have."

Axel kicked him in the ribs. "Love ya too," he muttered, jumping off the side whenever Saïx slapped his knees with the fish slice. He came over to me, sitting down on the chair closest to me (which was only about half a meter away) and pretended to look upset.

"No pancakes for you."

At that, Axel leapt up to Saïx and slapped him. I leant back in my chair, surprised.

Were they _always _like this? Sure, me and Kairi tended to mess around a lot... but we never got physical! Was it _normal _for boys to be so violent? Axel was like a demented rabbit; he kept on hopping back and forth and back and forth! Ugh, boys in general were just _weird. _I shuffled around in my chair. "Do you two _always _behave like this?"

"Axel is trying to impress you," came Saïx's monotonic reply. He dumped a massive spoonful of sugar and butter onto one of the pancakes before Axel gleefully yanked it away. "And failing. Now, Aqua; do you want anything on your pancake?"

"I'm _having _one!?"

"Of course." He smiled, _just _a little little tiny bit that made the corners of his mouth twitch upwards by less than a centimetre, but I was pretty good at reading people. I smiled back, widely. "If you are a friend of Axel, then I must treat you as such."

"I _have _been around to your house before," I pointed out. Actually, when I really thought about it, a heck lot of the holidays so far had been at this house, especially with Axel and Xion and Saïx. "Plenty of times. I could walk around it in my sleep."

"You're getting off-topic."

Oh, uh, right. "...Do you have any jam?"

"Axel. Jam."

Axel was too busy scoffing his pancake to hear Saïx, I think. Either that, or he was ignoring him on purpose. I think it was more of the latter.

"_AXEL._"

He finally looked up, letting loose a loud burp before sighing. "Hey, if Aqua's not havin' hers-"

"-_JAM._"

"Yes sir!" Axel squeaked out, having rushed over to some tiny cupboard before I could even blink. "What flavour?"

"Blueberry?"

I thought I heard him scoff. "Yes, I _know_ it's like my hair."

"Ain't my fault you have blue hair."

"You're _really _not doing a good job of impressing me," I said lightly, remembering what Saïx had told me earlier. "If anything, my opinion of you keeps on lowering." Well, that was a lie. The fact that he was so _weird _was... one of his charms? Maybe.

Axel dumped the blue jar on the table beside me and winked.

"Frankly, I wasn't aware that you _had _an opinion in the first place."

"Only because you're so dense that you wouldn't notice it," Saïx said, taking a seat next to Axel and biting into his own pancake. The pancakes were pretty large; I noticed that Saïx's had honey drizzled over the top of it.

Instead of slapping him, however, Axel patted Saïx on the back fondly. "Ah, but that's why I have you as a brother. To pick up on all of the little things that I'd miss."

That was when the front door slammed open.

I whirled around, expecting to see an elephantor- or _something _stamping through the hallway, but instead, there was a skinny man wobbling towards, bags upon bags of shopping covering his face. His arms were pretty tanned; for _whatever _reason, he was wearing a white t-shirt and a tiny pair of _shorts._

He dropped down the shopping, and then I recognized him immediately as Axel's dad.

Oh _hell._

He wanted to pair together every single living thing in existence, despite not having a girlfriend himself; he was convinced that Saïx and Jasmine were going to have children, and as for me and Axel...

Yeah.

"Axel?" He smirked. "You didn't bring your girlfriend around _again_?"

"D-dad!" Axel spluttered, eyes wide. "We're not-" He looked to me, helpless, before sighing. "Ugh. She's my _friend._"

He nodded, still smirking widely. "I'm _sure._ Just add a girl in front of that, would you, hmm?"

This, I thought with a groan, slamming my head on the table beside the plate, was going to be a long day.

* * *

**A/N: **I did not mean for that bit at the end _it just happened without my permission._

Also this is full of AkuSai platonic crap but hey it has Akua (as I fondly nickname the Axel/Aqua pairing because no one else will) in it so everything's okay.

(And Aqua loves Terra in a _sisterly _way, btw.)

So UMMM.

APART FROM THE OBVIOUS FACT THAT I CAN'T WRITE LET'S SEE WHAT ELSE I CAN RAMBLE ABOUT.

UMMM.

This takes place in the _Hybrid _universe, as well as the first theme (Hume Hats), but it takes place _after _HH. They're on summer vacation, I think.

ANYWAY how can people like this I don't know how just ignore me here.

OH my KH muse is slowly coming back.

Yay?

**Complete: **3/100.


	4. Ring - Face It Later

**Title: **Face It Later.

**Summary: **Aqua thought that phoning her obsessive, bubbly, rambling, and boy-phobic sister would make her feel better. Obviously, the world doesn't work like that.

**Pairings: **Aqua/Axel (obviously XD), some Aqua/Kairi.

**Theme: **Ring (63).

_Takes place after Hume Hats and Pancakes._

* * *

As soon as Aqua came home, she flopped herself down onto the battered bed and kicked off her high heels. They collided with the plastered wall, peeling off tatty wallpaper as they fell, but she was too busy nursing her aching soles to care. Ugh, how could people walk in them _every day? _They were like... like a form of _torture! _She'd barely managed to strut her way up the twenty fleet of stairs to the interview, and she felt so uncomfortable the whole time! Flat shoes all the way, definitely.

Axel poked his head around the bathroom door, cloudy shaving foam covering both of his hands. His jeans were falling down on him again. "Heeeeyyy, you're back early. How'd the interview go?"

She groaned, banging the back of her head against several thick history textbooks, which only added to her headache. "I started rambling on about Ven, so unless they enjoy listening about how people get rice stuck up their nose, I don't think I got the job."

He pursed his lips, looking thoughtful. "Hmm. Well, don't worry 'bout it. Heck, we're _students_. At _university." _He shrugged his shoulders._ "_Worrying about a job? Least of our problems, right? 'Sides, we could always ask-"

Oh no he was _not _going there. "-My mother is _not _going to be involved in this. She'll gloat the whole way to the bank – 'I _told you so, _Aqua, but _noooo, _you think you can do it _all by yourself' –_ and Kairi's going to be angry and slap you because she keeps thinking that we're dating when we're not and Shiki won't be _anything _which is even _worse _and Mr. Mew does not count."

"Mr. Mew?" Axel blinked. "Do I even _want _to know?"

"It's complicated." She rested a book on her forehead. It was cool and heavy against her flushed skin. "Very complicated."

Axel gave a low whistle. "_Right. _Just lemme finish up here, and then we'll talk, aight? Besides, I _was _gonna suggest Sai, but-" He smirked. "-If you wanna be confusing, feel free."

"How am I _confusing?"_

"_All _girls all," he groaned to himself quietly. "Sheesh, I have enough from Larxene, and I had to practically _grow up _with that girl."

"You grew up with_ Larxene_?"

"Like you said, it's complicated."

"Like you didn't say, you're not going to explain."

"Course not." He ducked back into the bathroom, leaving patches of bobby blue foam on the door frame. "Be out in a minute."

It was taking Axel a while in the bathroom – but then again, it _always _did – so she tried to pass the time by flipping her phone open and close. After the fifty-seventh flip, she decided to call Kairi.

It only took one beep before her sister picked up the phone.

"_Hey, Aqua! I thought that you didn't have enough money for credit!"_

"I have _plenty _of money."

"_Well, to be honest, I think the bills say otherwise."_

"Kairi."

"_I mean, I _know _that there's a recession and all at the moment, and when _I'm _going through university, and _I _moan to you, you're just going to laugh at me, but still. Get a job."_

"I am _trying._"

Axel cursed from inside the bathroom, the sound echoing along the tiled walls. "FOR THE LOVE OF-"

Aqua blocked the end from her mind.

Kairi's voice was tense. _"Was that _Axel?"

"He's not very skilled with a razor."

"I HEARD TH- _OWWW!"_

"Proving my point!" Aqua shouted at him. She tried not to smirk, but then remembered that Kairi couldn't see her, so she did.

Kairi sounded surprised when she answered. _"You have enough money for a _razor_?"_

"Kairi, you make it sound as if we're homeless."

"_Yeah, but... well. I was under the impression that you don't have enough money for _hair gel_."_

"We don't."

"_Oooohhhh, so is your hair just a mess of blueness? Wicked!"_

"My hair does that _naturally._"

"_Even with the way it spikes out _horizontally _at the neck?"_

"You claim that _Sora's _hair is natural."

"_That's because it is! Sheesh, Aqua, he's the only person who looks _better _after it's been slept on, not worse! It's probably got nits and stuff in it, but it looks _soooo _good, that I don't think it really matters, because honestly, apart from Riku – but he's just _Riku –_ who would _want_ to touch his hair? I swear, someone would easily impale their hand through it, and that's because there's probably a-"_

Axel swung his head around again, his chin now spotting several fresh cuts, along with one on his forehead. Aqua didn't dare ask. "Finished talking to your sis?"

She waved a hand impatiently, covering the microphone of her mobile. "In a _minute._"

"Coming from the person who wouldn't let me phone Saïx because it _uses up too many minutes."_

"We are _struggling _for money."

"And again, if you talked to your mom-"

"-_Never_," she hissed angrily, sending Axel a quick glare before lifting her hand off the speaker.

Kairi was still happily rambling on. _"__And _then_, whenever Sora dragged me outside, there were these two kids – one of them had _green _hair, and the other guy's nose nearly poked my eyes out, and I was at the _opposite end of the count –_ along with a giant rollercoaster. Oh, oohhhhhh, and-"_

"-Kairi."

"_...Yeah?"_

"I hate to inform you, but Axel's finished attempting to shave."

"Whadda mean, _attempting?_"

Aqua jabbed at the cuts on his chin. "That."

He raised a hand up to where Aqua was poking, grinning sheepishly. "Oh. Uh."

"_So you have to go?" _Kairi asked, sounding upset. _"But we've barely been talking!"_

"Recession," Aqua offered wearily. "Bills. Mortgage. An interest rate of one half. All of the things that grown-ups have to deal with."

"_But you're only four years older than me!"_

She smiled a little. "Don't worry, you'll see. Look out for Shiki-"

"_-Who's a year _older _than me-"_

"-Who is actually _ten months older_ and carries a stuffed teddy bear around because it reminds her of Dad."

From the other end, Kairi cleared her throat. Right. She shouldn't have mentioned Dad. _"...Okay." _Kairi's voice was tight. _"A__-a__nything else?"_

"If anyone tries to bully her, slap them."

Her voice suddenly leapt back to its usual bubbly self. "_So I can slap Neku?"_

Aqua laughed, both at Kairi's comment, and at Axel's attempt to clean himself up with the antiseptic wipes, as he was busy smearing it across his whole face. "If you want to get on Sora's bad side, sure."

"_Does Sora even _have_ a bad side?_"

"If you hit his brother, then yes, he might."

"_But Neku's her boyfriend!"_

"Kairi, you can't hit every single male person that shows a vague interest in Shiki. Goodness knows how many times you'll have to hit Riku."

She heard spluttering on the other end. _"Wait, _what!?"

"He took her to a café on _Valentine's Day."_

"_...I am going to KILL HIM! HE _KNOWS_ THAT I DON'T WANT HIM TO DO THAT BUT- Hey hey hey. How the heck would _you_ know?"_

"I have my ways."

"_AQUA."_

Her phone suddenly beeped, reminding her that she was on her last minute before credit ran out. Great. "Love you loads, Kairi. Stay safe, look after yourself, and _don't _tell anyone about our financial situation. We're going to see if Axel's father can help out."

"_But sis-"_

"-We'll be fine." She pitched her nose. "Look, if all else fails, we'll go to Mother."

"_Promise?"_

"Promise. Bye, love you."

"_Bye!_"

She heard a click on the other end, and quickly locked the phone, trying to ignore the wallpaper of her whole family squeezed together into an awkward position. Axel was sitting on his own bed opposite hers, looking at her strangely.

"So. We're gonna rely on Dad now?"

Aqua was surprised at the bitterness in his voice. "Well... didn't you offer?"

"Yeah, but-" He ran a hand over his face, wincing when he reached his chin. "-_Ugh. _Is it really _that _hard to admit to your mom that you need help?"

"Yes," she snapped, running her hands impatiently over her phone. "Yes, it is."

"_Why?_" He sighed, looking exhausted. The heavy bags underneath his eyes were suddenly very noticeable, and to be honest, he'd – _somehow –_ been dropping more weight. She felt her heart twinge. "Pride?"

"_No_." How could he even _suggest _such a thing? "It's... complicated."

Axel gave a wistful chuckle, voice icy. "Ain't gonna say, huh? Okay. That's cool."

"Look. It's..." She sighed, flopping back onto her creaking bed again. "...My mother, she's... _you know._"

Suddenly, he threw his arms up in the air. "Actually, I don't know, but woo who, go us. At this rate, we're not gonna even graduate."

"_Axel!_" She stood up. "We _will_, if it the last thing that I do."

Axel buried his face into his pillow. "Awwfua."

"Is not my name."

"Fuuuddd."

She took his mumbled request as wanting food, so she opened up her drawer and scrounged around for some loose change. After a struggle, she managed to find enough for a small pizza. "I'm going to order a pizza."

He flashed her a small thumbs up, lifting his head up from the pillow. "Thanks."

Just as she was about to make the call – calls to the pizza place were free, thankfully – she suddenly remembered something important. "Hey, have you done the essay due for tomorrow? We do have _Doctor Cid _for the Keyblade War project, right?"

To his credit, Axel lifted his head up again before letting out an inhuman groan. Aqua ignored the long string of curses that quickly followed. "Well, it's a good thing I did a second one for you, isn't it?"

This time, Axel rolled over to stare at her. "What."

"You've been worried a lot, haven't you?" When Axel didn't reply, she gave a hesitant smile. "And I'm sorry about not telling my mother – I really am- and yes, maybe some of it _is _pride, but... I'm scared, as well, that she'll be cross or angry or... or _something._"

The redhead sat up in the bed, stretching out his lanky limbs. "Then we'll face it later, aight? I'll phone Dad tomorrow, see if he couldn't drop off some of my bank money to us, then we'll find a part-time job, and just work from there." He scratched the back of his neck, glancing down. "...Sorry 'bout earlier. I didn't... well, I _did_, 'cause I still think you're being stupid with your mom and all, but hey, I'm not experienced with mothers, it's your kettle of fish."

"You really suck at apologizing."

His face fell. "No need to rub it in!" Then he grinned. "It's just good that the rest of my _amazing _personality makes up for it, huh?"

Aqua gave him a small smile as she dialled the final digit. "You tell yourself that."

* * *

**A/N: **Ahhh, I hate this _so much, _you have no freaking idea...

I mean, DAMN IT, it's mostly platonic Aqua and Kairi stuff (AquKai?) in the middle, with a small dashing of Akua at the ends, but I needed to put some Akua in there _somewhere._

Also I genuinely think that my love for _Kingdom Hearts _is being overtaken by my love for _The World Ends with You_, because the latter is literally _all that I think about_ when it comes to writing. I mean, when I get KH ideas, they're easier to write out, but the TWEWY ideas come easier, but they're harder to write out. UGH. /headdesk/

I've also been having a pretty rough time IRL, but hopefully things will start looking up.

ALSO hate the fact that everyone is so horrbily OOC and I don't want to be one of those whining brats who goes 'OH MY GOD it's not even canon their personalities don't matter _whine whine whine' _but sassy Kairi is amazing to me and I don't even know what I did wrong with Aqua and Axel I just _know _that I've done something wrong.

I should really stop feeling like crap but _ahhh _can't help it and even writing it out isn't helping that much because I think that my writing's been going downhill ever since near the end of last year and I want to get back into the flow of things but I can't because LACK OF BROADBAND AND GOING DOWNHILL ACKKKKK.

But that's enough of my whining.

P.S. Also according to one website an anemone is the flower of love, but for another, it's the flower of hatred? Goodness I hope it isn't the latter.

**Complete: **4/100.


End file.
